ADDRESS BY 
HON. WILLIAM 
L. HOLLO WAY 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF 
THE SUPREME COURT 

Before the Fifteenth Legislative 
Assembly, Helena, Montana, 
February 22, 1918. 



Washington's Birthday 






D. of D. 
mAY 23 1918 






Address by Hon. William L. Holloway 

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 



"Anciently, to be called a citizen of Rome was accounted the 
highest honor. Today no badge of distmction, no title of nobility 
can add to the glory of American citizenship. Proud in the very 
majesty of her might, in the inexhaustible storehouse of her resources, 
m the genius of her people and in their conception of free govern- 
ment, this nation faces the supreme crisis in its history with a confi- 
dence born of sublime faith in the integrit}^ of its intentions, the purity 
of its motives and the unselfishness of its purposes. 

"This day brings a ray of sunshine through the all but impen- 
etrable gloom of a world-wide war. And it is well that in our na- 
tional travail, we can sit at the feet of the father of our country and 
learn some lessons from the experiences of the past. 

"Because the circumstances which surrounded his day and 
generation were so unlike our own, it might not be amiss that we 
should devote our energies to reproducing, instead of merely com- 
memorating his virtues. Irving has said that the traits of character 
which m him shone with pre-eminence were 'firmness, sagacity, an 
immovable justice, courage that never faltered, and most of all, 
truth that disdained all artifices.' 

"As a general he marshalled the untrained colonists into veter- 
ans, supplying by discipline what they lacked in experience. As 
a statesman he gave to the constitution a comprehensive breadth of 
vision, vitalizing its powers in the interest of the people, whom it 
was adopted to serve. It has been truly said that he was a con- 
queror, but untainted with the crime of blood; he was a revolutionist, 
but free from any stain of treason; an Englishman by race and 
lineage, he incarnated in his own person and character every best 
trait and attribute that have made the Anglox-Saxon name a glory 
to its children and a terror to its enemies throughout the world. 

"Guizot said, 'Washington did the two greatest things which in 
politics it is permitted to man to attempt. He maintained by peace 
the independence of his country, which he had conquered by war, 
and he founded a free government in the name of the principles 
of order and by re-establishing their sway.' The world approves 
and applauds the opinion of Everett that he was 'the greatest of 
good men and the best of great men.' 



"It is said that when Marathon had been fought and won 
and Greece kept free, every one of the victorious generals voted him- 
self first in honor, but all agreed that Miltiades was second. But 
when the American revolution was concluded, whoever else may 
have been second, all in one accord proclaimed that Washington 
was first. 

"First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his country- 
men. His life and services are a greater mspiration in this day of 
peril than in all the years which have intervened since he assumed 
the command of the American army — a patriot without pay. 

"The specter of disunion palls into insignificance before the 
ogre of unconscionable autocracy. Successful secession might have 
established in this good land of ours two democracies instead of one, 
but no cataclysm of civil war ever could have destroyed American 
love of justice, liberty and independence, implanted in the hearts 
of our people by the examples of our forefathers of revolutionary 
days. 

"We are wont to think of Washington as a great military hero 
and his record as commander of the colonial troops is unsurpassed, 
but he was not less great as the organizer of an embryo republic. 
The battles of the Revolution would have been fought in vain if the 
fruits of victory ha5 not been a free and united people, and to bring 
together the discordant elements; to cement into one common mold 
the petty jealousies and conflicting aspirations; in short to build a 
nation in the wake of war commanded the fortitude of the soldier; 
the foresight of the statesmen ; the solicitude of the philanthropist ; 
and the sublime faith of a patriot. Not alone are we indebted to 
Washington for victories won on the field of battle ; for constructive 
statesmanship in shaping the framework of our government or for 
administrative genius in launching successively our ship of state upon 
an uncharted sea and guiding its course through the perilous days of 
an experimental stage, but we owe to him an equal debt of gratitude 
for the legacy which he left in the parting words of wisdom ; fatherly 
advice ; and timely warning of his farewell address. 

"With his compatriots he welded together thirteen scattered 
colonies into a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the 
principle that all men are created equal — with equal opportunities in 
all the affairs of life. A hundred and twenty years have passed 
since he laid down the reins of government and we are called upon 
today as were our forefathers to answer : Shall this nation so con- 
ceived and so dedicated, survive to our posterity as the exemplar of 
government of the people, by the people and for the people? 

"Our isolation no longer protects us. We are of the world 
and must assume the duties and responsibilities of a world power. 
Every violation of international law is our concern; every inhuman 
barbarity practiced upon a helpless people imposes upon us a duty 
to demand and enforce reparations. 

"We have entered this war without any thought of self aggran- 



dizement; unselfishly 'To make the world safe for democracy;' 
that in every land free people may enjoy the right of self determina- 
tion to establish and maintain their own form of government and 
work out their own destinies. 

"But democracy is not merely a name. It is the exponent of 
an idea; the spirit in which free people build their institutions and 
administer their laws. It comprehends their individual obligations 
and their public duties as well. It is born of freedom but it is the 
antithesis of unbridled license. With all the regulations surround- 
ing us; with our liberties circumscribed, our burdens increased, our 
laws multiplied, America is today more truly democratic in the midst 
of this world war than ever before. We know that these burdens 
are self imposed; that these restrictions are born of necessity. We 
accept our full measure of responsibility and are thrilled by the ex- 
alted patriotism which moves a hundred million human beings with 
one common impulse. We are breaking the barriers of class dis- 
tinction, as nothing else could do, by applying the principles of true 
democracy to the selection of men for active service on the battle 
field. Our army knows no distinction of color, class or creed. 
Rich and poor alike contribute to the nation's need in money and 
in men. 

"We are learning that democracy comprehends something 
more than constitutions and laws; something different from the con- 
trol of the government in the interest of mass or class. Constitutions 
and statutes are written on paper but the principles of democracy are 
inscribed on the tablets of human hearts. Human rights are placed 
within the protection of the constitution, not to be embalmed, but 
to be vitalized and when we can climb to the mountain tops of under- 
standing and survey the whole, vast fields of human endeavor, then 
and then only will it be given unto us to perceive 4;hat government 
of the people, by the people, and for the people is something more 
than a struggle for existence where every man's hand is raised against 
his neighbor, but that it means co-operation in service, everyone 
striving for the good of all and all for the good of each. 

"No government is worthy the name which does not serve faith- 
fully the interests of all its people. This nation has stood forward 
as the champion and defender of human liberty and its precepts and 
examples have influenced the destinies of millions separated from us 
by half the circumference of the globe. This great world war 
involves something more than boundary lines and forms of govern- 
ment. It has taught the lesson that the human race cannot abide 
in peace or security, half free and half in involuntary slavery to a 
military autocracy. America has its part to play — to make the 
world safe in which to live ; a place where solemn treaty obligations 
must and vAW be respected ; where the sacred rights of helpless non- 
combatants are given recognition ; where women and children cannot 
be made the prey of lust or avarice, and where the unbridled ambi- 
tion of a single monarch cannot deluge the earth with human blood. 



"The highest duty of good citizenship demands that we awaken 
jfully to the immense responsibihty which rests upon us. Less than 
the utmost that we can do is not enough. This war is not yet won. 
Our resources will be stressed as never before in all our history. 
We have set our forces to the task and cannot turn back. The 
shades of our forefathers forbid that we shirk from the sublime duty 
which enlightened civilization has imposed upon us. 

"This nation was born in the throes of revolution against the ar- 
bitrary acts of irresponsible autocrats. Its foundations were laid 
deep and broad in the unerring, immutable principles of liberty, 
equality and justice, and to preserve these sacred, a sure mheritance 
to coming generations is the privilege and the pleasure of every pat- 
riotic American. 

"We are called upon to make the supreme sacrifice of our 
lives in treasures and in blood. Our money will count for naught 
unless this war is won, and worse calamities can befall their parents 
than the loss of their sons. If the cause is just, their deaths will 
not be in vain. The enemies of human freedom may well stand 
aghast that they give their best and all to support the tottering 
thrones of decaying monarchies. I have no doubt that in their sober 
senses they begrudge to us the opportunity to establish justice and 
liberty among the peoples of the earth, just as in the motly crowd 
which gathered on Golgothas rocky heights, the mother of Judas 
envied Mary as she stood before the crucified form of her beloved 
son. 

"Our work is not finished but only begun. The memory of 
Valley Forge inspires us to renewed efforts, to consecrate our energies 
to the unfinished task which is set before us that 'government of the 
people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the 
earth.' " 



PAT.MN.;i, I9M 



